Ogundaisi offers ‘Pardonable Unforgiveable’ at a time of ‘Bail Out’

Stories by Shaibu Husseini

Veteran motion picture producer and director Yinka Ogundaisi’s new movie ‘Unforgiveable Unpardonable’ is not about politics or politicians and so it has absolutely nothing to do with the current agitation for bail out funds by some state governments. But it has a lot to offer couples that are in search of a bail out from a horrendous to a sustainable happy married live.

Ogundaisi

Star studded and an industry wide cast that includes Taiwo and Yomi Obileye, Uche Macauley, Aisha Abimbola, Taiwo Hassan, Gloria Young and Dejumo Lewis of the village headmaster fame, Pardonable Unforgivable is about domestic violence, perspective on marriages and on the key to sustainable married life.

Produced and directed by Yinka Ogundaisi for Ogundaisi’s Universal Films and Communication Limited, the story revolves round Josephine, Segun, Abimbola, Edwina, Chief Willoughby and 70-year-old Deola who have different tales of betrayals, lust and adventures to share. Josephine leads in the movies rising moments when she shuts the door on her marriage but could not seek a divorce because her only son could not cope with living without a father. She also could not consummate another relationship no matter the pressure from the opposite sex. Segun on his part, nibbles at the bait of his ex-wife’s wealth to save his ailing business to the detriment of his loving family while Abimbola had a bitterly contested divorce and instead of borrowing a cue from the likes of Josephine she finds solace in partying and consummating other affairs. Elsewhere, Edwina is born to into wealth but that could not guarantee her a steady home as the fellow she divorced found a steady soulmate. Chief Willoughby’s headache is having to contend with his 70 years old wife Deola who is having a side kick with his best friend. On her part, Deola too draws blood when she stumbles on her husband’s open affair with a young lady she considers a daughter.  And the rest of the story is devoted to how the intrigues and conflicts play out.

Laced with folklore music, songs and dances by three ancient masquerades from the old Oyo Empire, Ogundaisi who is reputed to have produced the first English language movie in 1990 titled ‘Give and Take’ said he decided on a love story at this time because of the rampant cases of divorce and domestic violence. According to Ogundaisi ‘’most of what you read on social media now and in the magazine section of our print media are majorly issues around domestic violence and so on. So we thought we should contribute our quota to the narrative on how we can best handle marriages and relationships’’

Ogundaisi confirmed that post-production work on the movie which features entertainment editor Victor Akande in lead role is completed and that what remains now is a formal premiere and a cinema release of the movie. ‘’We are done with post- production. We are marketing now and talking to distributors to see how we can exploit the cinema route before we do other platforms and finally release on DVD.  We have an assurance of a premiere and we are working on the details. But what is sure is that we are ready for cinema release after which we shall exploit other platforms’’ he said. 

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With the National Distribution Framework (NDF), which Ogundaisi conceived for the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) now moribund, is Ogundaisi whose most recent effort ‘Omoge’ was sold to a cable station recently, not scared that pirates may feast on his new movie. ‘’It is the reason we are thinking of a cinema release first before we can consider other routes’’ Ogundaisi, producer of the longest running but now rested television series Feyikogbon submitted.

He explained why the NDF walked into a snoozing state: ‘’Nigeria is a huge country, officially on the constitution, there are 774 local governments, so even if you want to transverse the local governments, estimate the cost, so the board had financial problem to execute the policy. The second was that censorship is on the concurrent list, which means the federal government does not have exclusive say on it. So we had to look for a strategy to incorporate the state governments into what we wanted to do. But of course the state governments, because of political reasons, had their own agenda. Anyway, the NFVCB decided to promote that shared responsibility by giving out different states to those on the committee. It was going well, the last bit was that in 2011, what has been mitigating against that distribution policy which would have effectively help solve the problem of piracy is that till today, there is no link between the license distributors at the regional and national level with the various community distributors. Ideally, the way the distribution policy was programmed to work is that you break the entire country into smaller manageable territory. So when a film is released, it is only in the territories that the distributors say that they want to distribute this film for their communities, those are the legitimate places you will find the movie. The other challenges is Emeka Mbah’s exit from the NFVCB. The new DG (Patricia Bala) came in, a director in the board before then, but started singing a new song, as the board was not going to renew my consultancy. The long and short of it is that nobody knows if distribution framework is still on. And it is the reason piracy is currently thriving in Nigeria’’.

Ebonylife ‘Fifty’ gets Ambode Endorsement

The Lagos State Government through its Ministry of Culture and Tourism have announced their partnership with EbonyLife Films in the build-up to the film’s worldwide premiere on the 13th of December 2015.

The Lagos State Government confirmed its support for the film in an official letter to EbonyLife Films signed by the Honourable Minister for Culture and Tourism, Foli Coker. In the letter, the commissioner stated “we appreciate the rich showcase of our great city through FIFTY’s celebration of the pulse and energy of this fast developing metropolis and its people through the lenses of its four leading women. We can proudly say Lagos State is the movie’s fifth character.”

Speaking on the partnership, Executive Producer, Mo Abudu said “we are thrilled to have Lagos State endorse our movie. FIFTY is a celebration of all that is good in and about Lagos and Africa as a continent. Our hope is that our great city continues to be an iconic backdrop for many more stories in the near future.”

This endorsement is another great feat for the EbonyLife Films production which continues to rally local and international support. Earlier in the year, the film was selected to screen at the 59th BFI London Film Festival – the only Nigerian film and one of five African films – alongside some of the year’s biggest titles.

Directed by Biyi Bandele and executively produced by Mo Abudu, FIFTY, captures a few pivotal days in the lives of four Nigerian women at the pinnacle of their careers. Tola, Elizabeth, Maria and Kate are forced at midlife to take inventory of their personal lives, while juggling careers and family against the sprawling backdrops of the upper middle-class neighbourhoods of Lagos.

‘FIFTY’ which stars Ireti Doyle, Dakore Egbuson-Akande, Omoni Oboli and Nse Ikpe-Etim. will premiere in Nigeria with a special grand Lagos premiere on the 13th of December 2015 at The Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos and will be released in cinemas nationwide on the 18th of December 2015